Wandering Center Channel in Nat Geo HD

[Subcenter2009]

Dear Friends,

My TataSKY + HD service was enabled today morning.

I live in Chennai.

I have an Annual Mega pack with an ordinary Tata Sky additional connection in another room.

At present I am getting 5.1 output from 3 channels, namely Star HD, Discovery HD and Nat Geo HD.

There is a showcase channel too in HD.

My finding while using Nat Geo HD is that the voice (center) channel keeps merging with alll the other channels and does a round of the room before coming back to the center speaker.

Then it keeps doing it again and again.

I am using a Toslink (Optical) connection between my + HD set top box and a Yamaha RX-V 450 with ES/ EX enabled.

Which means I am enjoying 6.1.

Please, can anyone tell me why the center channel is doing this?

DVDs play fine as also the other 2 HD channels which are also OK.

Please share your thoughts as to how I can anchor the center channel to the center speaker while watching Nat Geo HD

Yours,

Subcenter2009

 

[waveking]

Yeah I have experienced this issue too. I bought TS HD in july 2010 and this problem has been present ever since.

 

[prankey]

WOW atleast on Dish TV HD they don't have such issue on a AAC 2.0 sound... I thought its Dish TV only which screws Audio mastering issues.

 

[venkatcr]

When Nat Geo is playing, what does the AVR display? - Dolby/DTS or MultiChannel? If it displays the later, there is nothing much you can do as it looks as if the carrier is decoding the signal improperly.

There are two things you must do.

1. Ensure that the STB is set to output on optical and the AVR is set to receive on optical. If there is an option,. set the STB to send data in raw format so that decoding is done by the AVR.

2. If the STB has an co-axial option, try that out.

If these do not work, and your DVD works well, it is possible that the carrier is sending the wrong code.

Cheers

 

[sanjay0864]

At present I am getting 5.1 output from 3 channels, namely Star HD, Discovery HD and Nat Geo HD.

There is a showcase channel too in HD.

My finding while using Nat Geo HD is that the voice (center) channel keeps merging with alll the other channels and does a round of the room before coming back to the center speaker.

On Tata Sky HD, only 'Discovery HD World' has correct DD5.1 audio. The audio of 'National Geographic HD' on 'Tata Sky HD' has always been a problem and which is unlikely to be resolved since TataSky refuses to accept or understand the problem.

PS: The problem is specific to TataSky, since I do not have any such issues with SunDirect HD.

 

[sanjay0864]

When Nat Geo is playing, what does the AVR display? - Dolby/DTS or MultiChannel? If it displays the later, there is nothing much you can do as it looks as if the carrier is decoding the signal improperly.

The AVR displays Dolby Digital, but that is not the problem. The problem is that Tata Sky apparently seem to be using an incorrect DD audio feed, similiar to the problem they had earlier with chniese subtitles being displayed on the NG HD channel. The reason I feel that it might be an incorrect audio feed, is that the DD audio of NG HD has been perfectly fine on SunDirect HD all this while. Suddenly in the lst few days the audio of NG HD on SunDirect HD too has the same issues that Tata Sky HD has had since the first day they launched. It's almost as if Tata Sky could not sort out the audio problems, so they bribed Sun Direct technicians to also screw up their audio. :lol:

PS: My theory of Tata Sky bribing the Sun Direct technicians might just have some truth, today the picture of NG HD on SunDirect HD has also been screwed up. For some unfathomable reason SunDirect HD has decided to squeeze the 16:9 NG HD broadcast from top and bottom to an even wider aspect ratio than 2.35:1. Thus you now have a squished picture with huge black bars on top and bottom. Effectively now NG HD on Tata Sky HD is for atleast now superior than on SunDirect HD.

EDit: This whole bribery theory might really have some bite, for co-incidently now Dish TruHD, for inexplicable reasons, has started showing the NG HD feed that has the 'chinese subtitles'. Conspiracy theories aside, the fact is that it is quite clear that all of the Indian DTH companies are technical retards and none of them either have the desire or competence to get things technically right.

 

[prankey]

The AVR displays Dolby Digital, but that is not the problem. The problem is that Tata Sky apparently seem to be using an incorrect DD audio feed, similiar to the problem they had earlier with chniese subtitles being displayed on the NG HD channel. The reason I feel that it might be an incorrect audio feed, is that the DD audio of NG HD has been perfectly fine on SunDirect HD all this while. Suddenly in the lst few days the audio of NG HD on SunDirect HD too has the same issues that Tata Sky HD has had since the first day they launched. It's almost as if Tata Sky could not sort out the audio problems, so they bribed Sun Direct technicians to also screw up their audio. :lol:

PS: My theory of Tata Sky bribing the Sun Direct technicians might just have some truth, today the picture of NG HD on SunDirect HD has also been screwed up. For some unfathomable reason SunDirect HD has decided to squeeze the 16:9 NG HD broadcast from top and bottom to an even wider aspect ratio than 2.35:1. Thus you now have a squished picture with huge black bars on top and bottom. Effectively now NG HD on Tata Sky HD is for atleast now superior than on SunDirect HD.

EDit: This whole bribery theory might really have some bite, for co-incidently now Dish TruHD, for inexplicable reasons, has started showing the NG HD feed that has the 'chinese subtitles'. Conspiracy theories aside, the fact is that it is quite clear that all of the Indian DTH companies are technical retards and none of them either have the desire or competence to get things technically right.

Like always, I completely agree dude. Some of the Dish's HD (or upscaled) channels have extremely silly issues (like we have discussed several times) and till date they have been clueless in resolving them.

BTW - I know its off the topic, how do you find SD and HD picture quality in general between Sun HD and TS HD?

 

[haisaikat]

When Nat Geo is playing, what does the AVR display? - Dolby/DTS or MultiChannel? If it displays the later, there is nothing much you can do as it looks as if the carrier is decoding the signal improperly.

There are two things you must do.

1. Ensure that the STB is set to output on optical and the AVR is set to receive on optical. If there is an option,. set the STB to send data in raw format so that decoding is done by the AVR.

2. If the STB has an co-axial option, try that out.

If these do not work, and your DVD works well, it is possible that the carrier is sending the wrong code.

Cheers

Will it not be better if the STB is linked via HDMI to the AVR?

 

[pungan]

Sound over HDMI also has the same issue.. :sad:

 

[prankey]

Will it not be better if the STB is linked via HDMI to the AVR?

TS+HD seems to be transmitting stereo PCM over HDMI due to some bug.

 

[soulforged]

I am having similar problems with the Cricket HD telecast

The AVR says Dolby Digital over HDMI and the commentary keeps roving around...

 

[sanjay0864]

I am having similar problems with the Cricket HD telecast

The AVR says Dolby Digital over HDMI and the commentary keeps roving around...

The problem with Cricket HD is actually not the same as the one with the NGC HD audio. It is obvious that the ICC World Cup coverage by ESPN is not in 5.1 surround sound, instead the sound engineers are creating a pseudo surround mix by fading/crossing sound from front to back channels. In the case of NGC HD though, the problem is with TataSky, since the audio from NGC HD is proper DD5.1 audio that is being spoilt by a technical fault of TataSky.

 

[garfield]

The problem with Cricket HD is actually not the same as the one with the NGC HD audio. It is obvious that the ICC World Cup coverage by ESPN is not in 5.1 surround sound, instead the sound engineers are creating a pseudo surround mix by fading/crossing sound from front to back channels. In the case of NGC HD though, the problem is with TataSky, since the audio from NGC HD is proper DD5.1 audio that is being spoilt by a technical fault of TataSky.

On my Sun Direct the NGC is in proper 5.1 surround. But their customer service sets the standard for the industry's worst! Better to suffer center channel issues on one channel.

 

[prankey]

The problem with Cricket HD is actually not the same as the one with the NGC HD audio. It is obvious that the ICC World Cup coverage by ESPN is not in 5.1 surround sound, instead the sound engineers are creating a pseudo surround mix by fading/crossing sound from front to back channels. In the case of NGC HD though, the problem is with TataSky, since the audio from NGC HD is proper DD5.1 audio that is being spoilt by a technical fault of TataSky.

I believe Nat Geo HD might also be the same issue - TS might not be taking a 5.1 feed and might be doing the same TRICK to convert stereo to 5.1! I am still waiting for my TS+HD to be delivered to understand this phenomenal. If it is too irritating, I would better stay with Dish HD.

 

[sanjay0864]

On my Sun Direct the NGC is in proper 5.1 surround. But their customer service sets the standard for the industry's worst! Better to suffer center channel issues on one channel.

You are correct about the NGC HD audio being correct on SunDirect HD, except that this is no longer the case. Mysteriously enough, for over a week or so now, the NGC HD audio on Sun Direct HD also has become problematic, similiar to the problem on TataSky HD. It's almost as if TataSKy bribed the SunDirect technicians to spoil the audio on NGC HD since they themselves could not fix the problem.

 

[sanjay0864]

I believe Nat Geo HD might also be the same issue - TS might not be taking a 5.1 feed and might be doing the same TRICK to convert stereo to 5.1! I am still waiting for my TS+HD to be delivered to understand this phenomenal. If it is too irritating, I would better stay with Dish HD.

Actually the two issues are quite different. In the case of Star Cricket HD, it is quite clear that the sound is originally being mixed that way, by the ESPN sound engineeer at the venue and the audio is coming thru to us exactly the same way without any inteference by TataSky HD. Whereas the audio in NGC HD on TataSky is quite clearly a technical problem that is happening at TataSky's end and could be a simple case of faulty decoder/encoder. In the case of Star Cricket HD, the audio is more acceptable both audibly and also due to the fact that obviously there is no real 5.1 audio feed. Why it is not so, is altogether another matter. But in the case of the NGC HD audio problem, it is entirely a TataSky issue and unfortuinately they are not even willing to accept it as a problem, jsut like they used to refuse to accept the CHinese subtitles on NGC HD issue as a problem.

 

[prankey]

Actually the two issues are quite different. In the case of Star Cricket HD, it is quite clear that the sound is originally being mixed that way, by the ESPN sound engineeer at the venue and the audio is coming thru to us exactly the same way without any inteference by TataSky HD. Whereas the audio in NGC HD on TataSky is quite clearly a technical problem that is happening at TataSky's end and could be a simple case of faulty decoder/encoder. In the case of Star Cricket HD, the audio is more acceptable both audibly and also due to the fact that obviously there is no real 5.1 audio feed. Why it is not so, is altogether another matter. But in the case of the NGC HD audio problem, it is entirely a TataSky issue and unfortuinately they are not even willing to accept it as a problem, jsut like they used to refuse to accept the CHinese subtitles on NGC HD issue as a problem.

I had understood your point in the earlier post. What I personally infer (solely my perception which may not be true) is that all the HD channels in India might be available with 2 soundtracks - 2.0 and 5.1 (like in DVDs) and it might be that the TS engineers are taking 2.0 track from Nat Geo (like you said for Star Cricket HD) and trying to do some "magic" converting to 5.1 (instead of SELECTING original 5.1 feed from Nat Geo HD). Same might be happening for Star Cricket HD.

We could confirm this phenomenon when comparing with Airtel HD which also broadcast Star Cricket HD in 5.1 I believe. Can someone comment on how Airtel HD audio sounds and if it has the same wandering audio issue?